Details emerge about woman charged with stalking Cubs' Theo Epstein

Woman is out on bond and can return to Massachusetts for mental health treatment

July 23, 2012|By Jason Meisner, Chicago Tribune reporter

Kathleen Kearney, who is charged with stalking Cubs president Theo Epstein, follows attorney Michael O'Donnell to the Cook County courthouse Monday at Belmont and Western avenues. She was released on bond and allowed to return to Massachusetts for mental health treatment. (José M. Osorio, Chicago Tribune)

A woman accused of stalking Chicago Cubs president Theo Epstein last week had been declared a ward of the state in her native Massachusetts in 2003 after she was found incapable of taking care of herself because of mental illness, court records show.

Guardianship was awarded to Kathleen Kearney's father and sister, according to state probate records filed Monday in Cook County court. Also included in the filing was a Massachusetts court order from March approving a drug-treatment plan for Kearney involving a range of antipsychotic medications, including two that are commonly used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

The Harvard-educated former librarian was freed from Cook County Jail on Friday after her brother-in-law posted her $7,500 cash bond.

At a court appearance Monday, Judge Marvin Luckman allowed a request by Kearney's lawyer to let her return to Boston to check into a mental hospital for treatment.

Prosecutors objected to the move, saying Kearney should not only be required to stay in Illinois but also be fitted with an electronic monitoring device to "track her movements."

If she is released from the hospital, Kearney must live with her sister and brother-in-law in Kingston, Mass., and check in regularly with Cook County officials.

A previous order prohibiting any contact with Epstein and his family also remains in effect.

Kearney, 44, of Canton, Mass., was charged with two felony counts of stalking after prosecutors alleged she flew to Chicago July 16 to look for Epstein at his North Side home and at Wrigley Field. Prosecutors said Kearney struck up a conversation with Epstein's wife at the front door, at one point telling her she had brought a gift for the couple's young son. Later, Kearney tried to stop Epstein as he entered the house, according to the charges.

She had previously been warned to stay away from Epstein when he was the general manager of the Red Sox, authorities said.

Kearney, dressed in a Red Sox T-shirt and white skirt, walked out of the felony preliminary hearing court at Belmont and Western avenues shielded by her attorney and flanked by her brother-in-law.